New Delhi, September 7: A Delhi court has extended the judicial custody of Swatantra Bhardwaj till September 21 in connection with an alleged assault during the CJP protest at Jantar Mantar. Police have reportedly added charges under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and for criminal intimidation, while a separate POCSO FIR has been registered over alleged online threats and harassment targeting a minor student activist.
The action followed outrage over an interview in which Bhardwaj claimed that he had “cracked the skull” of the student activist’s father during the protest and had avoided arrest because of his political connections. Bhardwaj was detained in Bulandshahr on Friday, hours after the Cockroach Janta Party staged a protest outside the Parliament Street police station demanding his arrest.
A day later, he was produced before Additional Sessions Judge Saurabh Pratap Singh Laler at his residence. The judge allowed Delhi Police’s plea for one day of custodial interrogation. On Sunday, Bhardwaj was sent to one-day judicial custody, which has now been extended till September 21.
A video of Bhardwaj triggered a controversy after he was purportedly heard saying that he had “cracked the skull” of the student activist’s father. In the interview, he allegedly said the injuries required 60 stitches and attracted Section 307. Delhi Police have also added provisions of the SC/ST Act and criminal intimidation to the FIR concerning the alleged assault on Sanjay Kumar, the father of the teenage student activist, during the CJP-led protest in June.
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